Always have a back up plan

Last Thursday, Leighton, Riley, and I set out in the morning to see a free performance of The Little Mermaid at the Miller Outdoor Theater in Hermann Park with our neighbors and friends Ronit, Hagar, and Yuval.  We got there too late to be in the shaded seating area but decided to give the big grassy hill behind the seats a try.

Unfortunately, It was too hard for the kids to see and hear much from there and the sun was beating down on us (many others brought huge umbrellas and were much more prepared than us), so we decided to take our picnic and the kids to the zoo instead (they share a parking lot so it was a quick 5 minute walk away).  Ronit and I had discussed this back up plan in advance, and I had let Leighton know that it was a good possibility we wouldn't be able to stay for the whole show if it was too hot, so luckily for me, he was agreeable to the change in plan.

It was very fun to go to the zoo with them because we went to different areas we hadn't visited yet.  We got to see our first Texas armadillo, the kids climbed through tunnels inside giant fish tanks, and Leighton went under the main ground-level Lion exhibit to see the Lion's backyard area.  We also sat in the shade and had a picnic lunch and went to see the elephants.  There were more elephants out than on our other visits, and there were even two little ones!
 

I then packed my hot, sweaty, and tired kids into the car.  This was my furthest-from-home car adventure so far.  The drive to the zoo went super smooth, and the way home was even easier since Riley fell asleep before we left the parking lot and Leighton didn't last much longer.  The difficulty came when I pulled into the driveway with two sleeping children and I had to figure out how to get them into the house without waking up Riley.  I failed!  It didn't happen!  I will have to figure out all these logistics now that I am on my own with the kids in the car.

On this occasion, if I hadn't have woken her up, the huge thunderstorm that rolled through shortly after we arrived home might have done so anyway.  It was loud and dark and long.  And it was pretty exciting because there was lots of small hail.  I sent Leighton with a bowl to collect some on the patio and out the front porch.  We had to wait until there was a break in the storm and it wasn't blowing in too hard and fast.  But we couldn't wait too long or it would melt.  We had lots of fun running from door to door analyzing the situation.  When you live in Texas, you need to embrace anything frozen falling from the sky when you can, right?!?!